The halt in attacks, including more than two weeks of escalated bombing and shelling, will begin at midnight.

The military said the regime “is keen on consolidating local reconciliations in parallel with the army’s operations to eradicate takfiri terrorism and restore security and stability to all Syrian territories”.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Pro-Assad forces have continued an escalation of bombing of Daraa city, the birthplace of Syria’s 2011 uprising, into a third week.

The pro-Assad attacks initially tried to hold back a rebel offensive that took most of the strategic district of Manshiyah, capturing security and other regime buildings. It then supported a counter-offensive to regain territory in the city, divided since 2012.

On Friday morning, the regime’s military began with barrel bombs on the Old City section, and it continued with other aerial attacks and shelling.

A pro-opposition outlet summarized that, in the past two weeks, there have been at least 712 barrel bombs, 166 airstrikes, 610 “elephant” rockets, 450 artillery shells, and 86 incendiary munitions dropped on Daraa and the surrounding area.

Yet, despite the bombardment there were signs on Friday that the regime might be acknowledging the failure to retake territory, despite reinforcements including Hezbollah fighters and Iranian-led foreign militia.

A pro-Assad website, which often circulated claims by the regime’s military, claimed that a 48-hour ceasefire will begin on Sunday, with the possibility of an extension. The truce would seek an end to attacks on both sides, including airstrikes, and the dispatch of reinforcements.

However, a meeting has not been held between representatives of rebels and the regime military, according to the site.

TOP PHOTO: Claimed image of explosion of incendiary munition in Daraa city earlier this week

Kurdish PYD Leader: Iran Trying to Undermine Us

Salih Muslim, co-president of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), has accused Iran of trying to undermine the Kurds in Syria, while denying “rumours” by Qatari and Turkish media outlets that the PYD supports Assad regime.

Muslim noted that he and his wife Aisha Afendi, like many PYD members, were imprisoned by the regime in a2 “bitter and long” conflict.

He continued:

We have no relations with Iran, and Iran’s policy is no different from that of the Syrian regime on the Kurdish issue, which is hostile to the Kurds’ fundamental rights.

They fear that the Kurds will gain their fights in Syria, and the Iranian and Syrian regime have the same position [on the Kurds].

Declaring Iranian-Qatari-Turkish coordination against the Kurds, he said, “This alliance invaded our homes and caused the martyrdom of many since 2012. We have suffered a lot of the policies of genocide and the denial of existence at the hands of this alliance.”

Muslim appeared to reach out for public support from Saudi Arabia, which broke relations with Qatar and imposed a blockade on Doha almost two weeks ago. He said hoped the presence of Saudi Arabia and Gulf countries will help to consolidate the bonds of brotherhood between communities.

Cases raising attention is the alleged kidnap and gang rapes of a 17-year-old in the Sayf Dawlah neighborhood and another girl in Maydan When local people protested, they were dispersed by gunfire.

The sites also say that one child was run over and killed in the Furqan neighborhood, and another in Heidariyah.

Russian patrols were supposed to keep order after pro-Assad forces reoccupied the eastern part of Aleppo in December, but throughout the past month, local sources have reported beatings, rapes, and detentions of civilians. There are also claims of executions in the area near Aleppo.

Scott Lucas is Professor of International Politics at the University of Birmingham and editor-in-chief of EA WorldView. He is a specialist in US and British foreign policy and international relations, especially the Middle East and Iran. Formerly he worked as a journalist in the US, writing for newspapers including the Guardian and The Independent and was an essayist for The New Statesman before he founded EA WorldView in November 2008.

#Observation: Came across this interesting comment that describes how individual SDF units operate and I mention it because it shows a contrast with rebel unit commanders:
.https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DCdyrkiXsAAeZDp.jpg
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Excerpt from the above link: “Every outpost commander has a tablet with a constantly updated map of skirmishes…Reconnaissance teams or those who have recently fled provide a rough description of situation at each site: How many IS troops are there and where can they be found? Which paths are mined and are there tunnels?”
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This is exactly how small unit commanders should be linking up (ie sharing information quickly, consulting and coordinating quickly with other rebel commanders) with each other and the SDF can do this because during offensives they have ONE/SINGLE general military commander who ensures that each rebel unit commander’s action is connected/linked with another neighbouring commander’s units so they can help each other achieve an objective quickly with as little resources (and if resources like ATGMs or tanks are needed it can be quickly sent to that front-line if the situation demands it) possible instead of the present situation of every rebel unit doing their own thing in order to make videos to show off on youtube.
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Say what you like about the SDF but they/SDF are organised far far more better then the rebel factions are right now.

Arab culture (FSA) works against all of what you have said. The next-door commander whose cooperation is needed is probably an Islamic or Islamist or follows some kind of ideology. They will never share their success with others. If Arabs were capable of what you say, they would not be in a civil war right now. As a society, they are the stupidest society on earth.

[TEV-DEM is the] coordinating body of the council structure of Rojava, founded in 2011. Tev-Dem encompasses all the supporting political parties, and civil society organizations, social movements, and professional and trade organizations. The PYD is the largest political party within Tev-Dem but it includes various other parties among which is the Syriac Union Party (SUP). Kongreya Star is the parallel coordinating organ of the women’s councils and organizations.http://newworldsummit.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/New-World-Embassy-Rojava-Program.pdf 12/13/2016

This is like science fiction reading. In a sort of psychological projection all the hopes, utopias, fantasies and ideological indoctrination of the western leftist are casted “a priori” upon the “rojava revolution”

The New World Embassy:

“How and why was the idea of a “democracy without a state”—a stateless democracy—as
Kurdish revolutionary Abdullah Öcalan described it, developed in the first place? In what way
has this stateless democracy been able to unify the different peoples in the Rojava region, and how should we understand its day-to-day practice?”